Par Speculum – 2006 at the Lyon Biennale
A Film Intallation by Adrian Paci
After being bombarded with a refreshing array of art from around the world at the Biennale Art Festival in Venice, we stopped for a few hours at the Biennale in Lyon to completely saturate the unused space in our frontal lobes that could potentially alter artistic perspective. For me, the last phase of synaptic fires occurred on the second floor of the exhibit. Behind a screen that stretched from floor to ceiling there was a small room that held the work of Albanian artist, Adrian Paci. The placement of the room in the building was as elusive and impalpable as the meaning behind the piece itself. I was to later find out that the minimalist feel of the atmosphere which contained 2 black rectangular boxes for seating, white walls and cold concrete flooring was a contrast to the emotions that Paci’s film brought about within me that were rather overwhelming. The dark and secretive space, accompanied by monotonous audio from the projector instantly turned into an almost meditative chamber where I could leave the world behind and drown in the visuals that seductively led the mind far beyond the physical representation.
My initial attraction to this piece was not the film but the sound of the whirring projector; a faint echo that emanated from a rectangular hole in the wall. My preconceived notions about the dark generated an initial reaction of being uncomfortable but the monotonous whirring almost took control and drove my feet to travel through the portal that Paci had to offer.
‘Par Speculum’ literally meaning “Like Mirror” in Latin was made in 2006 and was shot using local children at Northampton shire. The opening scene of the countryside was a peaceful canvas to begin with. It gave space and time to let me breathe in my surroundings with an open mind. The scene with its untarnished natural environment and clear sky let me willingly succumb to an opinion-less mindscape in preparation for a new wave of thought.
Abruptly moving from close-ups of various anonymous faces of young children with diverse expressions, we are led to a mirror stuck in the mud that holds their reflection as they stand in a group. They seem contemplative and not particularly cheerful. Some seem mischievous while the others wistful and immediately, I thought about their past and what their childhood had been like. After a few moments, one of the boys shoots the mirror with a catty and the frame lingers on the broken mirror, at once destroying their unity and dividing them into individual ‘broken’ characters of a bigger whole. Like the first scar on the film plane I was led to think of lost innocence and shocking moments that break the clarity of childhood. I also thought about shattered relationships and trust. The disintegration friendship as one grows older.
The next scene is children, running in the field and then we see each stills of individual child reflecting the sun off shards from the broken mirror while seated on various branches of a tree. We then see a wide-angle shot of the entire tree with sparkles of flares from the sun as the children play with the mirrors they're holding. The film stagnates in and around this shot of flickering sunspots like stars shining from the dark tree-scape and leaves the viewer with an inconclusive end to reflect upon the emotions that moved through the mind like the icon of quivering light-bulbs that go on and off when ideas are formed at random and disappear almost instantly.
I also thought the mirrors reflecting the sun resembled SOS symbols were used in earlier times to indicate that help is urgently required. Perhaps begging to viewer to think about connecting earth and sky. A naive longing to arrest the duality of light and dark; prepubescence and maturity.
The tree itself reminded me of the tree of knowledge and I thought about growth of a childlike mind into adulthood. How experiences of childhood influence the adult and how each child is in desperate need to be guided well on the road to maturity. There were instances where I felt like these children from the countryside were indicating they were a part of the eternal and precious macrocosmic tree of knowledge. Pieces of a puzzle on a journey, like individual branches, together, being immortal components that complete the ensemble of mans upward evolution. Or perhaps, glimmering fireworks to celebrate a hopeful future for humankind.
I'm glad I found this ambiguous piece that aroused contemplation while allowing me to ruminate and meander through the dark unexplored realms of my own thought processes.
